OCR Text |
Show Congressmen Tavor Zransvaal Washington. Jan. 21. The Grand 1 Opera house, the largest auditorium in , Washington, was packed to the doors , tonight with an enthusiastic audience j that expressed its sympathy with the Boers in their fight with Great Britain, j The speakers included members of biuh i branches of congress, and on the stage were other public men. who came merely to add their moral support. The j keynote of the speeches was that the j Boers were fighting for their independ- j ence, as our forefathers had done in ! 1776. The gathering assembled under i the auspices of the United Irish socie- j ties, and a number of leading Germans . of the ej,ty joined in the movement. The i decorations were American tlags. with a fair sprinkling of the green of Erin. Among those who occupied seats mi the stage were Senators Mason of Illinois. Illi-nois. Allen of Nebraska and Tillman of South Carolina. Representatives Clark, DeArmond and Cochran of Missouri, j Bailey of Texas, Carmack and Cox of j Tennessee, Rhea. Jones and Lamb of j Kentucky, Sha froth of Colorado, Dov-enor Dov-enor of West Virginia. Meyer of Louisiana, Louisi-ana, Sulzer of New York and Lentz of Ohio, and Mr. Van Sicklen of New-York New-York and representatives of the United Irish societies and others. A large delegation of Irish-Americans and Ger man-Americans from Baltimore was in the audience. The meeting was called to order by the chairman of the executive exe-cutive committee, M. p. T. Moran, the national treasurer of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, who. after a few words of welcome, introduced Congressman Sulzer as the presiding officer. Representative William Sulzer of New York was selected as chairman. Mr. Sulzer said, in part: "As an American citizen, I am not ashamed to have it known that my sympathy is with the heroic Boers iri the determined effort to maintain their homes and their independence against the tyranny of the Hritish crown. In a fight between liberty and monarchy. I want to see liberty win. "Their cause is a just cause. England's Eng-land's attempt to steal their country is an outrage, an act of criminal aggression, ag-gression, and should be condemned by the Christian powers of the world. "In 177t the patriotic fathers of this country fought England to gain independence. inde-pendence. The South African patroits today are fighting the same cause to maintain their independence. That is the only difference. "The courage of the Boers in the face of tremendous odds has challenged the admiration of mankind, and their heroism he-roism against almost insurmountable obstacles has won the respect of the civilized world. They are entitled to our sympathy, and we would be falSf to ourselves and to all our history if we did not give it to them. "England must not be permitted to crush the Boers and steal their homes. Her criminal march of devastation must and will be checked. "We must do our duty. This great republic, in the name of liberty, humanity hu-manity and free institutions, must demand de-mand peace and make that demand good. We have a right to express our sympathy for the patriotic Boers. We have a right to aid the Red Cross society so-ciety in their behalf. "We sympathized with Holland, with Hungary, with Greece, with all the South American republics, with Armenia and with Cuba. Many we helped. Why, I ask. in the name of all that is just and honorable, should we now refuse to send our moral support and sympathetic aid to the patriots of South Africa? A republic that refuses sympathy to a sister republic ' struggling strug-gling to maintain its independence against monarchial aggression is unworthy un-worthy of the name and in danger of monarchy itself. A republic that will secretly connive and aid a monarchy to destroy a sister republic and blot "out its free institutions is a republic rotten to the core and will soon fall like a decayed tree on the banks of a turbu-lant turbu-lant stream, to be swept away forever. "The defeat of the Boers will be the severest blow to republican ' institutions institu-tions that has been struck in a century, and every lover of liberty should, fervently fer-vently pray that they may be successful. success-ful. "There is no doubt the administration is secretly in sympathy with Great Britain and lending her all the aid it can. Every patriotic citizen of the republic re-public should condemn this. "I want to see the Boers nvin, and I believe they will win. "God bless the embattled farmers of South Africa, is my fervent prayer, and from the ashes of the conflict may ' there arise a greater and grander re- ; public, the glorious United States of i Africa." Senator Mason was first introduced by Chairman Sulzer. "I congratulate Washington. the capital of the nation," he said, "on this sympathetic demonstration in behalf of a sister republic. The Boers are right, but unless we can aid them in some way their cause may not triumph. tri-umph. The bird of liberty has hitherto hither-to always found a resting place in this country. Lately the American people, it appears have taken to eating carrion. car-rion. We do not want for the Boers the kind of liberty that England would ' give them. We want the Boers to have the kind of liberty they want. If you have any influence, lend your voice to the cause of the Boers. If you have no influence, but have convictions, speak your sentiments." Representative Bailey of Texas delivered deliv-ered a vigorous address, that was loundly applauded. "I am sick of. hearing about our brothers across the sea," said he. "England "Eng-land is brutal. It is not rrwrely English Eng-lish greed of gold or desire for wealth that urges England on during this war. She finds an opportunity to blot a re- puouc irom tne map or tne world, and she does not hesitate to do it. I blush to say that there are men under this Hag who hope to see this crime perpe trated, but they hope in vain." Senator Allen of Nebraska, said, in) part: "If there is any country on the face) of the earth that owes the British empire em-pire nothing, that country is the United States of America. 1 am not a believer m non-intervention when liberty is at stake. 1 would not intervene with sympathy sym-pathy expressed, but I would intervene with evcry lawful means in my power. I hope arnl believe that the God of justice will at some time see that the Hritish empire is overthrown and a republic placed at its stead. "I hope that the fate meted out tn hm- will be the reward of any nation which st-ks to deprive and oppresn People of their liberty, whether it be in the plains of South Africa or in the islands of the a. A man cannot believe be-lieve in the justice of the called of the l'.ocr ;r.d ;it the same time uphold our government's course in the Philippines. The American Hag will never wave in triumph over the prostrate form of liberty. lib-erty. We will not even recognize the ik pvf-sentati ve or' the Boers, a sister repubih. although we have sent a consul con-sul to f'rei-.ri;!. Is there any subtle iti-lluence iti-lluence at work in high circles to prevent pre-vent the Tiit;vaal from obtaining recognition rec-ognition in this country'.' I close with the liope that th" next cablegram from ;,rr"H" the water will bring news of Buller's defeat." pri sentative Champ Clark of Missouri Mis-souri said in part: "Wh"twer people are struggling for liberty they should have the friendship of all Americans. "It is astounding that there should be any argument as to that proposition i within the broad confines of this puis- sant republic. Two years ago there would not have been. "In the earlier day we would have made the welkin ring: now, govern-mentally govern-mentally sneaking, we are as dumb as: oysters. Wherefore because England is a robber nation we must stand together for self protection and because it so English you know. Th.it governmental govern-mental America, mark you, only official America. "From its sordid inhuman verdict we ; appeal to the unofficial masses, who make and unmake statesmen, whom Abraham Lincoln affectionately demoii-innted demoii-innted the plain people. "The senate of the United States may laugh to senrn Senator Mason's resolution resolu-tion of sympathy with the t'.oers; but. the toiling millions of America will send their sympathy and their hearty godspeed acriV-t? the sea. to the brave burghers who are the best marksmen set n on earth since Andrew Jaekson'n immortal day at New Orleans." other speakers on the same general lines as their predecessors were Representatives Repre-sentatives I)e Armand. Cochran, Rhea (Ky.), and Lentz (O.). and Mr. Vau Siclen of New York. A number of letters let-ters and telegrams were received, including in-cluding one from .Senator Hale of? Maine, expressing regret at his inability to be present and entire sympathy with the movement. The following . resolutions were adopted: "Whereas, the American people still cherish the lessons and memories) of 177 and therefore fully understand and realize the rapacious war which Great Britain is waging against a small, but patriotic people, whose misfortune is the possession of neutral wealth coveted cov-eted by British greed. "Whereas. In the prosecution of this robber warfare. Great Britain has been balked, as yet, of her tyrannous designs, de-signs, and has therefore resorted to unlawful un-lawful and barbarous war tactics, as is her wont, to-wit: "1. Th? arming and mobilizing of savages. sav-ages. "2. The distribution of dum-dumbul- if is io nt'i oi(iier. euupieu v mi me bojst that the British government possesses pos-sesses 100.000 such missiles. ":!. The illegal seizure of peaceful merchandise en route from the neutral ports of the United States to friendly Portuguese markets. "Whereas, The president of the United Unit-ed States has not taken proper notice of these outrages, making it necessary for the people at large to express their will through public assemblages and serious warnings, therefore the citizens citi-zens of the American capital, in mass-meeting mass-meeting assembled, have "Resolved, That the people of tho Orange Free State and the South African Af-rican republics, are. and of right ought to be, free and independent, and their civilization is understood to be equal morally to that of any other people, the false witness of the British press to the contrary notwithstanding. Therefore, There-fore, the precipitation upon them of savage foes in alliance with trained soldiery threatens the repetition of the horrors of Wyoming, Fort Darien ami other events, bitterly remembered by the American people as ruthless instances in-stances of British perfidy and dishonor. dis-honor. The attention of the president of the United States is respectfully directed di-rected to this feature, which is a notorious no-torious matter of common repute-throughout repute-throughout the world. "Resolved. That this meeting, in concert con-cert with the American people throughout through-out the iand. sends its sympathy, gool will and heartfelt encouragement to the Boers, and reminds them that as, we triumphed against the same foe, so may they. "Resolved. That we beseech an't strenuously urge the president of th United States to exercise the prerogative preroga-tive vested in him by the peace conference con-ference lately arranged by the powers of the civilized world. We beg him to offer his good offices as a mediator be- . tween the -Boers and the British for the deliverance of those unfortunate; Englishmen and their families, now being be-ing punished vicariously for the crime of a brigand cabal of gold robbers and land-hungry conspirators, not one cf whom is at the fore-front of the battle. bat-tle. "Resolved, That we solemnly protest against the shipment of munitions of war from this country for the use of? Great Britain." |